Meijer customers keep 10M pounds of food out of landfills through Flashfood app
Meijer shared that its customers have diverted 10 million pounds of potential food waste through the Flashfood app, making it the first retailer nationwide to reach this milestone with Flashfood.
Since the program's expansion across the Meijer footprint in 2021, customers have purchased 10 million pounds of food on Flashfood, which offers deep discounts on groceries nearing their sell-by dates, preventing it from potentially entering landfills.
"Food is at the core of what we do, and we're always looking for ways to cut down on landfill use because it's the right thing to do for our customers and communities," said Erik Petrovskis, director of environmental compliance and sustainability at Meijer. "Our partnership with Flashfood has already grown beyond our expectations, but this record achievement has us looking forward to the program's future growth."
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Meijer launched Flashfood as a pilot program in November 2019 at a handful of its supercenters in Metro Detroit. After reducing in-store food waste by 10%, Meijer expanded the offering to all its stores in 2021. Today, 264 Meijer stores offer the program, including all the retailer's supercenters and grocery stores.
Through the Flashfood app, customers purchase food nearing its sell-by date, including meat, produce, seafood, deli, dairy and bakery products, at up to 50% off. Customers then pick up the food from the Flashfood zone located at the front of Meijer stores. According to Flashfood data, the most-purchased item from Meijer via Flashfood is the retailer's produce box filled with various fruits and vegetables. Other top items purchased via the app are ground beef and Atlantic salmon.
Flashfood partners with retailers to upload surplus close-dated grocery items to an app for up to 50% off, offering consumers great deals on groceries while diverting food waste. Customers can go to the app, select a Meijer store, choose items they want to purchase and pay for them directly on the app. Then, they can go to the store to pick up their items and confirm their order with customer service.
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"We've seen amazing momentum in our partnership with Meijer, particularly after expanding availability of the app across all stores – and we're thrilled to celebrate them as our first U.S. retailer to hit this major milestone," said Brody Slacer, head of partner growth at Flashfood. "Working with Meijer has given thousands of shoppers access to affordable, high-quality groceries while reducing the impact of retail food waste. A rare win-win for people and the planet."
The initiative represents one way that Meijer offers both sustainability and value to its customers. The retailer is also investing in renewable solar energy, adding EV chargers at more stores and has invested more than $1.5 million in the Council of the Great Lakes Region since 2022. Meijer will also hold its second Sustainability Summit in October, giving vendors nationwide the opportunity to showcase their environmentally-focused products to Meijer merchants.